George c



' (No Model.)

G. C; SCHMIDT. SAFETY GAR FENDER.

Patented May 8, 1894.

INVENT mi A TORNEY,

manila-mum PATENT QFFICE.'

GEORGE O. SCHMIDT, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALE TOABRAHAM HARMAN, OF SAME PLACE.

SAFETY CAR-FEN DER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 519,648, dated May 8,1894.

Application filed July 25, 1893- To all whom it may concern:

3e it known that I, GEORGE O. SCHMIDT, a c tizen of the United States,residing at Baltlmore, in the State of Maryland, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements n Safety Oar-Fenders, of which the following1s a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in fenders for street-cars whichshall remove obstructions from the car-track by brushing them to oneside as the car advances, the fender being of such form that, if theobstructlon be a human being, it will not strike a death dealing blow.In the accompanying drawings-Figure 1. 1s a slde elevation of one of thetrucks of a car and showing the car partly in section with the improvedfender attached thereto. Fig? 2 1s a bottom planview of the car andfender. Flg. 3. 1s a front elevation of part of the car body with thehanger rods attached thereto. Fig. 4. 1s a perspective View of thetop-frame of the fender. Fig. 5. is a diagram showing the stay-bar andthe relativeposition of the spring tines with respect thereto.

Referring to the drawings the letter, A, designates the car-body; B, oneof the trucks WhlCll 1s pivoted thereto at, a, in the usual manner. Thefender is attached to the forward end of the car and is supported bythree hanger rods, G, which project downward from the bottom of the carin front of: the truck, B, and have nuts. or flanges, 0, upon theirlower ends, for a purpose to be presently described. A T-shaped bar, D,has three perforations, 0, through which the rods, O,pass loosely andthe said bar is movable up and down on said rods, being normallyretained in a raised or elevated position by means of compressionsprings, 02, on the hanger rods. Said springs bear at one end againstthe not or flanges, c, and at the other against the lower side of thebar, D, thus the bar can only be depressed against the force of the saidsprlngs. The parallel curved bars, E, E, are secured to the ends of theT-shaped bar and these bars, D, E, E, constitute a frame to support anumber of spring tines or fingers, F, each rigidly secured at its upperend be tween the curved bars, from which point of fixture each tinecurves down and forward- Serial No, 481,439- (No model.)

. the operation of depressing the fender, a lever is pivoted to thecar-body at, g, and one end, g, abuts against the upper side of theT-shaped bar; the other end, g, is jointed to one end, h, of a secondlever also pivoted to the car, the other end, h, of which extends upwardthrough the floor of the car and terminates in a foot-piece, I. It canbe readily seen that by depressing the foot-piece, I, the end, 9, of thefirst named lever can be made to press down upon the upper side of theT- shaped bar and thus depress the fender. On releasing the foot-piecethe springs, d, will immediately elevate the fender to its normalposition. A semi-circular stay bar, K, extends in a curve back of andparallel to that formed by the swivel tines or fingers,F, see Fig. 5 thedistance between the stay bar and the 7;

spring fingers being in practice perhaps four or five inches. The saidstay bar at each end is provided with an inclined part, k, which extendsupward and is bolted or otherwise fastened to the bottom of the car. Ashort Y-shaped piece, L, projects from the middle point of the stay bar,K, between two of the fingers, F, and a vertical roller, m, formedpreferably of soft rubber is journaled in the arms of the Y-shaped pieceand in front of the fingers. The operation of thedevice is asfollowsz-If when in use an obstruction be observed on the track andthere should not be sufficient time to stop the car the gripman ormotorman of the car will depress the fender by operating the foot-piece,I, and when the car has advanced sufliciently either the thetincs or thesoft roller, m, will strike the obstruction; if the roller strikes it,it willturn and be encountered'by the spring fingers, F, 9 5 on one sideor the other of the said roller; the said fingers will encounterit oneafteranother, finally sweeping it off the track. The force of the impactwill cause the said spring-fingers to yield, and they may yield untilthey I03 come into contact with the stay-bar, which stops furtherbackward movement and thus prevents the tines or fingers frombeingbrokenofi. The shock of an encounter is always taken up by the yielding of thespring-fingers, and thus if the obstruction be ahuman being he will notbe struck a hard and death-dealing blow but will be removed from thetrack with comparatively little injury.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States- 1. The combination of acar-body; a frame movable up and down, that is to and from the car-body;a fender attached to the said frame and comprising a number of resilientspring-fingers each rigidly secured at its upper end but having itslower end free; and means for operating the said frame and fender up anddown.

2. The combination of a car-body; a number of resilient spring-fingerseach rigidly secured at its upper end, and having its lower end free;and a rigid stay-bar having position in the rear of the spring-fingersand serving as a stop after the said fingers have bent backward,substantially as described.

3. In a fender for street-cars the combination of a number of resilientspring-fingers each secured at its upper end, and havingits rodsdepending below the car-body; a frame vertically-movable to and from thecar-body on the said rods; springs on the rods to sustain the frame; afender attached to the frame and comprising a number of resilientspringfingers each secured at its upper end and having its lower endfree, and a foot lever to depress the frame and spring-fingers.

In testimony whereof Iafiix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

GEORGE O. SCHMIDT.

Witnesses:

ABRAHAM HARMAN, CHAS. B. MANN.

a rigid stay-bar having position in

